Cider Apple Trees

[LandoAllen]

So I've been making hard cider for some time now and have decided it would be fun to start planing my own apple trees. I will be honest and say that I don't know much about apples or growing them so I could use some advice. I live in northeast Indiana where we have mild summers (100 degrees max) and cold winters (sometimes as low as -20). My USDA Hardiness zone is 5B.

I have done a lot of reading and thought about planting these 6 trees:
For cider:
Yarlington Mill
Kingston Black
Campfield
Harrison Cider
Roxbury Russet

For eating:
Honeycrisp


Do you think these would make good cider when blended together?

Do you have any experience with any of these trees?

How big do the trees get?

Will these trees cross pollinate at the right time?

Do I need to be aware of diseases, molds, or bugs that any of these trees are susceptible to?

What ratio would you mix the cider for each type of apple?


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[crabbyapple]

These are great questions, and require a level of expertise that is beyond my own. You will be able to find some answers from the folks on the Cider Talk listserv. Check out http://www.talisman.com/cider/#Digest for more information. Those guys know everything, and questions like yours come up frequently.

 

[sashurlow]

I've heard of a couple of them. You definately will have your bittersweets covered. Can't say what the blend will be like as I don't know which apples are sweet, sharp or bittersweet. The size of the tree depends on the rootstock. You can have the same variety of apples on different rootstocks and end up with very different size tree. With six varieties you should have enough cross over on flowering to be fine. You will probably have more issues with deer than disease for the first couple of years...

 

[LandoAllen]

If there are a lot of bittersweets, what would help balance that?

 

[WVMJ]

Your honeycrisp gets every disease there is, some of the others have reputations of low productivity, if you are only going to have a few trees you may want to keep doing your homework. Cummins nursery is a good source of info, many other nurseries have good info. Fruitwise in the UK has a lot of basic info on cider apples on youtube. Your selection leans heavy on euro varieties, you may consider Grimes Golden, some kind of crab like Dolgo or Wickson, the Rox has a good reputation as a sweet russet. Find some local cider enthusiasts in your area, some of them might be growing cider trees also. Good luck. WVMJ

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Here's a list of apple varieties Farnum Hill Cider uses:
http://www.povertylaneorchards.com/the-orchard/poverty-lane-apple-varieties/

Here's another list, this one from a nursery:
http://www.greenmantlenursery.com/fruit/apple-cider.htm

The nursery should be able to tell you which cultivars will work in your zone.
Regards, GF.